Valance



Patented Feb. 10, 1942 umran STATES: P

are:

VALANCE Thomas F. Byron, Cleveland, Ohio Application; March 6, 1941,Serial-No. 382,047

5 Claims.

Theinvention relates to valances and particularly to drapery valancesfor the windows and doors of dwellings. The object of the inventionis toprovide selective decorative and draped effects in the-use of suchvalances, with or'without the accompanying useof variousforms ofstandard draperies. Th improved valance may be made in one part with adepending fringe by sewingor may bemade in two parts by sewing and bythe use of a selective lower valance portion forming a fringe.Theirnproved valance which,

in use, depends from any suitable supporting member such as a pole or arod, comprises an upper fabric portion amenable to the formation of aseriesof selectively positioned loops for the accommodation of thesupporting member, and a lower portion forming a fringe orskirtdepending from the upper portion. The lower skirt portion may beasolid panel or mayconsist of a plurality of separate members such as aseries of transversely-aligned strands, cords, twisted:

threads, or other fringe-composing members.

The annexed drawings and the following description set forth in detailcertain means. illustrating th invention, such disclosedmeansconstituting, however, only two of the various forms in which theprinciple of the invention may be.

embodied.

In said annexed drawings:

Figure l is an elevation of oneform of th improved valance dependingfrom a supporting member, the figure illustrating oneparticulararrangement of the valance on the supporting member;

Figure 2 is an elevation of the same form of improved valancedifferently arranged on a supporting member, the view also showing astandard form of draperies associated with the valance and dependingfrom the same supporting member;

Figure3 is an elevation of the same form of valance but stilldifferently arranged on the supporting member, this arrangementinvolving two valances, of the sam formation but assumedly of differentcolors, one valance being draped over the other to give a desirabletwoetone color effect, in addition to a desirable draping effect;

Figure 4 is an enlarged broken elevation of the form of valence shownvin Figure 1;

Figure 5 is an end- View, taken from the plane indicated by the line5--5, Figure 4;

Figure 6 is an enlarged brokenelevation of the.

form of valance shown in Figure 1, showing an arrangement of the valanceon a supporting member in one of the many possible arrangee mentsdifferent from that shown in Figure 1'; Figure 7 is an end view, takenfrom the plane indicated bythe line 1 1, Figure 6;

Figure 8- is. afragmentary elevation showing still anotherarrangement ofthe improved valanceon a supporting member;

Figure 9'is. a. fragmentary elevation similar to Figure 8-, this viewbeing an enlargement of a portion of the valance arranged on asupporting member in the mannershown in Figure 1;

Figure l0.is.a fragmentary elevation of a second-for-m of the: improvedvalance, this form being; particularly designed to furnish two-tonecolor effects;

Figur 11; is an end view, taken from the-plane indicated by the line Il.-H, Figure 10;

Figure 12 is a fragmentary elevation of the.

formof valance shown-inFigure. 10- arranged on a supporting member-inoneof themany possible.

arrangements. thereof; and

Figure 13.is .an endview, takenfrom. the plane indicated by-the line. |3-|-3, Figure 12..

Referring. to the annexed drawings wherein the.

. at the top provide a decorative upper edge por-.

tion. for the valancabut. itis within, the spirit of the invention to.make th individual valance members I of a single depending. part insteadof a double or U-formation.

The-severalmembers I. are secured together adjacenttheir upper edges bysuitable transverse stitching 2, andv are als secured together by lowersuitable transverse stitching 3, the verticalv space between thestitchings 2 and 3. being largeenough toaccommodate a transversesupporting. member i. su hv as. a p d, ompas e hrou h loops form d yember pa ts I; or b he comple e. mem r i, f e ch. of the. a c ns s f a sngle depend n par hen nser in he supp rt n member the m mbe arts. re.manipulated. intdoffset, positions respectively forwardly and rearwarlly, as clearly appears in Figures 6. and, '1. atsu h intsas t idesired. to. pass. hrough he. sup o tin membe 4.- The. stitching. 3.islocated mate ia ly absv the bq o The structural make-up.

edges of the members I so as to provide a considerable valance fringeportion depending below the supporting member 4.

The lines of stitchings 2 and 3 make a unitary whole of the series ofmembers I and the same forms in its broad aspects the improved valancewith the lower portion thereof below the stitching line 3 forming adepending fringe 5. This fringe 5 need not necessarily be constituted ofseparate or individual or several parts, such as the poleaccommodatingupper valance portion between the stitchings 2 and 3, but may be a solidpanel lower portion depending from an upper panel portion which latteris comprised of or formed into separable members havingvertically-spaced transverse securing means between which the supportingmember may be threaded through the separable members at selectivepoints. Furthermore, the lower fringe portion of the valance may be anentirely different member from the upper pole-accommodating portion, andis so illustrated in Figures 10, 11, 12, and 13. In the form of valanceshown in these figures, the upper pole-accommodating members 6 areformed of a continuous cord reversely bent or folded successivelyupwardly and downwardly to form adjacent strands or legs 6 terminatingin U-bends 6 at the upper and lower edges of the members 6. The severalreversely bent strands are secured together by an upper transversestitching l and a lower transverse stitching 8, and to these members 6is secured a lower depending fringe portion 9. The fringe portion 9comprises, in the embodiment shown in Figures to 13, a series of twistedcords 9' arranged in inverted elongated U-shaped formations having aU-bend 9 at the top. The several cords 9' are secured together adjacenttheir upper edges by suitable transverse stitching it]. As will appear,the upper edge of the fringe 9 and the lower edge of thepole-accommodating members 6 are secured together by means of stitchingI l preferably passing through the transverse stitching 8 and 10. Such avalance assembly of different upper and lower portions lends itself tothe formation of two-tone color effects since the upper members 6 may beof one color and the lower fringe 9 of another color.

The object of the invention is to provide a large selection ofdecorative and draped effects which may be readily and convenientlyobtained by the use of an economical valance structure. The describedvalance gives these advantages and some of the many possible selectionsare illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In Figure 1. and also shown enlarged in Figure 9. the supporting member4 is shown as passing at both ends of the top portion of the valancethrough loops formed by the respectively forwardly and rearwardlyoffsetting of two adjacent member parts I; then next adjacent inwardlyit passes through loops formed by three adjacent member parts I offsetforwardly and a member part I offset rearwardly: then next adjacentinwardly it passes through loops formed by four adjacent member parts Ioffset forwardly and a member part I offset rearwardly: then nextadjacent inwardly it passes through loops formed by five adjacent memberparts I offset forwardly and a member part I offset rearwardly: andprogressively thus to the center of the valance.

In Fi ure 6, the supporting member 4 is shown as passing successivelythrough loops each of which is formed by the two parts I of a member I,the several member parts I' thus being offset in symmetrical arrangementalternately forwardly and rearwardly of the supporting member 4.

In Figure 8, the supporting member 4 is shown as passing at the ends ofthe upper portion of the valance through loops formed by adjacent memberparts I offset respectively forwardly and rearwardly; then throughoutthe remainder of the valance it passes through loops each formed bythree adjacent member parts I offset forwardly and one member part Ioffset rearwardly.

In Figure 12, the two-part or two-tone valance is arranged on thesupporting member 4 in the same manner as has been described withreference to the one-part valance of Figure 6, viz., alternate forwardand rearward offsetting of the successive individual member parts.

In Figure 2 -is illustrated one of the many possible draped effectswhich can be obtained by the use of the improved valance, thisparticular draped effect being combined with the use of a standard formof side draperies [2 depending by any suitable means such as rings l3from the same supporting member 4 as that from which the especiallydraped improved valance depends. As shown, the particular drapingconsists in suspending the valance from the supporting member 4 at theends and the center of the upper portion of the valance by loops formedof member parts I and providing sufficient valance width to permit anydesired lower draped or freely hanging valance portions between adjacentsuspended areas.

In Figure 3, an improved valance I4 is suspended and draped as desiredfrom a supporting member 4, being combined with a second valance l5,preferably of contrasting color, also suspended and draped from thesupporting member 4 in substantially the same manner, one valance, I4,for instance, being hung in front of valance l5 and draped in a seriesof formations alternating or having a different periodicity from that ofa series of similar formations in which valance I5 is draped.

What I claim is:

1. A valance comprising a continuous series of closely-adjacentdepending readily flexible fabric strands, transverse stitching flexiblytying the strands together adjacent their upper ends, lower transversestitching flexibly tying the strands together, the individual strandsbetween the two lines of stitching being amenable to offsettingforwardly and rearwardly to form spaced loops at selective positions forthe accommodation of a transverse supporting member.

2. A valance comprising a series of depending readily flexible fabricstrands, vertically spaced lines of transverse stitching each flexiblytying the strands together, said stitching lines being at the upperportion of the valance, the valance portion below the stitching linesproviding a flexible fringe, the valance strands between adjacentstitching lines being amenable to offsetting forwardly and rearwardly toform spaced loops at selective positions for the accommodation oftransverse supporting members.

3. A valance having an upper flexible portion comprising a series oftransversely-aligned independent depending readily flexible fabricmembers, said members being flexibly stitched together top and bottom toform a unitary whole with the member parts between the stitched top andbottom amenable to offsetting forwardly and rearwardly to form spacedloops at selective positions for the accommodation of a transversesupporting rod, the valance having also a lower flexible skirt portiondepending from its upper portion.

4. A valance having an upper flexible portion comprising a series oftransversely-aligned independent depending readily flexible fabricstrand members, said members being flexibly stitched together top andbottom to form a unitary whole 5. A valance having an upper flexibleportion comprising a series of transversely-aligned independentdepending readily fiexible fabric strand members, said members beingflexibly stitched together top and bottom to form a unitary whole withthe member parts between the stitched top and bottom amenable tooffsetting forwardly and rearwardly to form spaced loops at selectivepositions for the accommodation of a transverse supporting rod, thevalance having also a lower portion consisting of a series oftransverselyaligned depending fabric strands secured at their upper endsto the upper valance portion by the bottom line of stitching and forminga fringe.

THOMAS F. BYRON.

